| Also Known As: KSL
Description:
Kenyan Sign Language (English: KSL, Swahili: LAK) is the language of the Deaf community in Kenya, used throughout the country by a large number of the country's estimated Deaf population of 600,000.
There are some dialect differences between Kisumu (western Kenya) and Mombasa (eastern Kenya). It may be related to sign languages in neighboring Uganda and Tanzania, though these sign languages are reported to be mutually unintelligible with KSL.
As well as Kenyan Sign Language, a number of other languages have been used in Kenya by foreign educators: Belgian Sign Language (in one school only), British Sign Language (in one school only) and American Sign Language (Gallaudet world FAQ), KIE Signed English and even Korean Sign Language (Ethnologue report). It is probable that students in these schools use a form of KSL regardless.
A manual alphabet exists mainly from the American Sign Language manual alphabet. However the British manual alphabet was used in the early years.
KSL currently has no legal status, but there is a proposal that Kenyan Sign Language (KSL) and Braille should be recognized in the country's new constitution as national and official Languages alongside English and..... full article at Wikipedia |
